Avengers: Infinity War starts out with a gut-punch. We're thrown right into the middle of a battle in Asgard where Thanos seems to be winning. There is some trickery regarding Loki and Thor and alliances, but ultimately, Thanos prevails. It's a beginning that really sets the stage for the first chapter of the epic battle, one that will close, of course, with Thanos "winning" again. It also lets audiences know immediately that Thanos is not someone to be trifled with, and that this movie is not one that is meant to make us feel good.

Wednesday night, Collider hosted an exclusive screening of Avengers: Infinity War with directors Joe and Anthony Russo in attendance for an extended Q&A, and the filmmakers explained their decision to start with that heartbreaking Asgardian sequence: 

We had a draft where he secured the Power Stone, but it just felt like one too many. So we thought, why don’t we just start in the middle of the scene that’s going to knock the audience off balance? Thanos already has the upper hand. Everybody’s had their ass kicked. We just felt like it would be a more shocking opening that would define the character for the rest of the movie. It’s a grand entrance for him as a character — he’s already in the midst of his plan and we’re catching up to it.

infinity-war-mcu-timeline-explained
Image via Marvel Studios

Another reason why we did that: The end of Civil War, the idea that we’ve left the Avengers in a place where they’re broken and separated from one another … We knew that created a vulnerability in them because they’re no longer together, they were no longer a team. So the fact that Thanos could strike fast and be one step ahead of them was even more threatening in the narrative. Again, in order for them to respond to Thanos — they had a long road to go before they could get on the same team again, which they never actually do in this film. They never are united as a force in this film, and that was part of the concept of having Thanos one step ahead of them, is that was where they were most vulnerable, because they were divided

For more from our extended Infinity War Q&A, be sure to check out the links below and stay tuned for more.

avengers-infinity-war-thanos-tesseract
Image via Marvel Studios
avengers-infinity-war-thor
Image via Marvel Studios
infinity-war-mcu-timeline-explained
Image via Marvel Studios
avengers-infinity-war-iron-man-doctor-strange
Image via Marvel Studios
avengers-infinity-war-chris-pratt-chris-hemsworth-zoe-saldana
Image via Marvel Studios